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“The Age of Reason” “The Age of Ideas” “The Age of Enlightenment” It “The Age of Reason” “The Age of Ideas” “The Age of Enlightenment” It is difficult, if not impossible, to give rigorous and precise definitions of these so- called “ages”. Some historians look at history as a succession of such ages, but one can also proceed, instead, by examining individual thinkers and their texts, allowing each to stand on his own, rather than constructing categories and “pigeon holes” and forcing people, events, and eras into them. Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727): His troubled childhood led to bizarre behavior, if not indeed mental illness, in later life; learning Latin at an early age from the priests of the Anglican Church, he went on to master Greek and Hebrew as well. Most of his famous discoveries and writings about gravitation, light, and calculus were made when he left his job as a professor at Cambridge for two years in order to avoid contracting the plague, and returned home to the small farming town in which he was born. A great deal of his time was devoted to examining what he considered to be the original ideas of Christianity; Newton thought that the church had corrupted them, but that careful study of the Hebrew texts could retrieve authentic Christian concepts. He donated his own money to print Bibles, which he then distributed in poor neighborhoods; he wrote long commentaries on the Hebrew prophets Daniel and Ezekiel. It seemed logical to Newton that the mathematical and logical nature of physics, “this most elegant system of the sun, planets, and comets could not have arisen without the design and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.” Newton actually wrote more books about his religious faith than he wrote about mathematics and physics; but he saw all his books as belonging to the same category, and would not have distinguished between mathematics, faith, and physics. Newton’s delayed publication of his discoveries about calculus led to a long argument with Leibniz, who seems to have independently and simultaneously discovered calculus; each claimed to be the first. Voltaire (1694 – 1778): Known for his bitter and sarcastic wit, he directed his intellectual criticisms at extremes, saying, “atheism and fanaticism are two monsters which can devour society and tear it asunder.” In addition to “fanaticism”, he also critiqued the institutional Church and its corruptions. He preferred a religious viewpoint based on reason, concluding that God “who, after this passage of life, in which we have so greatly failed to recognize him and committed so many crimes in his name, will deign to grant us consolation for so much horrible misfortune; for considering wars of religion, the forty papal schisms, which have almost all been bloody, the impostures which have almost all been harmful, the irreconcilable hatreds kindled by diverse opinions, in view of all the evils which a false zeal has produced, men have long suffered their hell in this life.” Montesquieu (1689 – 1755): He resisted the notion that “scientific” approaches to problems of human conduct entailed determinism. He believed that God existed, and that God had given men free will. “Could anything be more absurd,” he asked, “than to pretend that a blind fatality could ever produce intelligent beings?” Assuredly, God had laid down the laws that govern the physical world, and “man, as a physical being, is, like all other bodies, governed by immutable laws.” On the other hand, precisely because he is a rational, intelligent being, man is capable of transgressing certain laws to which he is subject. Some of the laws he transgresses are his own laws, namely positive laws, but governing the conduct of men are other laws which are antecedent to positive laws, and these are the general “relations of justice” or, in a more conventional term, natural law. Montesquieu’s attitude toward religion was very like that of Locke. He did not believe in more than a few simple dogmas about the existence of God and God’s benevolence, but to that minimal creed he clung with the utmost assurance. On the other hand, Montesquieu grew to be much more cautious than Locke in his criticisms of religious institutions. Montesquieu did not hesitate to mock the Roman Catholic Church and clergy, but in later years he took care to avoid provocative utterances on the subject. “I will sacrifice everything for the sake of reason and religion,” Montesquieu said. He never asked his wife to give up her Protestantism, and he was always a fervent champion of religious toleration. At the same time, he remained on the best of terms with his several relations who were in holy orders in the Catholic Church. He always detested atheism. To him the idea of a universe without God was effroyable. The concept of a loving creator played as prominent a part in his political theory as it did in that of Locke; indeed, whereas Locke had been content to see the church apart from the state, Montesquieu favored an alliance of organized religion with the government. He suggested that Christian principles, well engraved by experience in the minds of the people, would be far more conducive to a good political order than either the monarchist notion of honor or the republican notion of civic virtue. Johannes Kepler (1572 – 1630): Studied to be a Lutheran pastor at the seminary in Tübingen, Germany. Although fiercely loyal to Lutheran beliefs, was interested in the works of the Roman Catholic priest Copernicus. As a result of his religious beliefs, he said “investigations of the external world discover the rational order and harmony which has been calculated into it by God.” Kepler refused to accept that the solar system had a random pattern, and discovered the algebraic basis for elliptical orbits. As a scientist who discovered various equations, he said that he was simply “thinking God’s thoughts after Him.” Kepler’s work represents a refinement of Copernicus’s discoveries. The Holy Roman Emperor applauded his work. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 – 1543): Trained as a Catholic priest, made the first clear statement of the heliocentric solar system. He worked until his death as a professor of astronomy in Roman Catholic universities and was rewarded by the Pope. Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867): Belonged to a group that broke away from the Anglican Church (Church of England), and started a new British protestant church. His researches into electromagnetism and electrochemistry occupied as much of his time as the sermons he gave on Wednesday evenings. Robert Boyle (1627 – 1691): discovered several foundational laws of chemistry; invented various pieces of laboratory equipment; discovered and isolated several elements; appointed by king Charles II to be the leader of “The Corporation for Propagating the Gospel in New England and the Parts Adjacent in America” to help poor Indians with food, clothing, and education; studied Hebrew and Greek; personally paid for the printing and distribution of Bibles to the poor in several different countries. .
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